Walks in Kharkov - a trip to our readers in Ukraine
In Kharkov, I went to our readers Andrey and Yana (I wrote about Andrey and his place of work in previous article), who invited us six months ago, when we were going to ride across Russia. It was still impossible to get ready for the trip, and finally, before the New Year, it took place. I have never been to Kharkov before, buying pies on the platform during the transit of a train through Ukraine to the Black Sea does not count.
The city greeted me with a gray sky and absolutely not snowy weather, although the thermometer showed minus. I suppose that the dullness would have been less noticeable if I came here in the summer. Few cities can boast of their beauty in cloudy weather, and in the season when the trees are just black sticks. Actually, I didn't expect anything special, so I just walked around the city center, looked into small courtyards and photographed everything that caught my eye. At first, the inscriptions in a foreign language attracted the eye quite strongly..
Unfortunately, some of the houses are in disrepair, some sidewalks and roads have been dug up. It is not clear whether the authorities have abruptly taken up global repairs in many places, or «nothing is more permanent than temporary»? Yes, I like all sorts of ruins, but it's scary to imagine that people live inside such houses. It is also unusual that the center is just one Sumskaya street, a step to the side and you get the feeling that you are already on the outskirts - and the buildings are simpler, and people disappear somewhere.
There are many small monuments in Kharkov. There is even a monument to a soccer ball, and I especially remember from photographs the one that «tortured metro builder». About him «beauty» a lot of legends have been put together, and this is probably why I could not find it - they removed it. But found «not yet tortured metro builder», he looks, of course, much more prosaic.
The sleeping area is the usual nine-story buildings, of which thousands were built in the Soviet incubator. Visually - a return to our Moscow nineties, especially if you enter the elevator. Although here in Moscow, in some areas, we periodically have to deal with similar vandalism. Maybe here too «bad luck»? :)
Kharkiv changes quite a lot at night. The Cathedral of the Annunciation is very beautiful with illumination against the background of paving stones, wet from the rain. Trees entwined with garlands and night illumination look no less amusing..
People on the streets are the same as ours, made of flesh and blood. Only from conversations it becomes clear that you are no longer in Russia. Even the Russian language, which the majority speaks here, has a noticeable accent. By the way, I realized for myself that I practically do not understand Ukrainian, God forbid, by 30%. My hospitable hosts said that if we were in Transcarpathia, they would also have a hard time perceiving the local speech, since the real Ukrainian culture and language remained only there, and Kharkov is almost Russia..
I dropped by the handmade fair Artishop, held in Khatobe (Kharkov theater). It is a pity that I didn’t have hryvnias with me, so I just wandered around and watched what such interesting people were doing now. At the same time I met the guys who are going to travel a lot.
About my walks in Kharkov and Kharkiv Zoo can be read in the relevant articles :)